UC IRVINE RESEARCHERS FIND DIFFERENCES IN CHILD, ADULT HOMICIDES THAT POINT TO NEED FOR NEW PREVENTION STRATEGIES
Study Shows Child Homicides Peak Between Birth and Age Four
Irvine, Calif., May 6, 1999 - In what may be the largest-ever study of child homicide, two UC Irvine researchers have identified significant differences in child and adult homicides, as well as age-related risk factors, that could lead to more effective prevention of child abuse and child homicide.
Results of the study of nearly 1,500 child homicide cases from the California Attorney General's files are reported in the May 1999 issue of "Homicide Studies." In their review of 30,929 California homicides that occurred between 1981 and 1990, Kenneth Chew and Richard McCleary, professors in UCI's School of Social Ecology, focused on the 5 percent of victims who were younger than 15.
Their findings suggest a need for age-specific approaches to prevention of child homicide.
"Adult murders are most likely to occur in a public place on a Friday or Saturday night around 1 a.m.-about the time that bars close. Victims typically are men between the ages of 20 and 29, and more than 60 percent are killed by firearms," Chew says.
In contrast, children of both sexes typically are killed at home, in the middle of a weekday, by a parent or other caregiver. The weapon of choice, overwhelmingly, is the human hand.
Homicide is the nation's second leading cause-after auto accidents-of preventable deaths of children, according to the California Department of Health Services. "It's relatively rare," Chew says. "But unlike other causes of childhood death, the child homicide rate has increased steadily since 1960. It's a serious public health issue."
"Still," he emphasizes, "very few parents who commit homicide set out to do murder. They're under stress; they go too far. In more than half of all infant and toddler homicides, the precipitating event is child abuse-shaken baby syndrome."
While most child homicides are the result of "child abuse gone too far," McCleary confirms, he and Chew label a significant number of them "altruistic killings."
"Between 15 percent and 30 percent of homicides of children under age 10 are related to adult suicides," says McCleary. "The parent decides to commit suicide, and can't bear to leave the child behind. Sometimes the suicide-homicide is related to a custody dispute."
According to the study, child homicides show two distinct peaks-the first between birth and age 4, the second between ages 10 and 14. Nearly 60 percent of the 1,498 child homicides studied were infants and toddlers younger than 4. About 27 percent were middle-school children ages 10 to 14. Less than 15 percent were primary school children between the ages of 5 and 9.
"Infants and toddlers are home all the time, alone with one adult, and they're physically weak," Chew points out. In addition, though their study did not include socioeconomic data, Chew and McCleary suggest that parents or caregivers of these littlest victims often lack education, support and financial resources to handle the constant demands of caring for young children.
"By age 14, the pattern is beginning to look like adult homicide," Chew continues. "Middle-school students start to hang out with older brothers, in gangs. They follow bad counsel, get in over their heads-now it's guns, drugs, money, 'honor.' The homicide begins with a dispute, or in commission of a felony, and a gun happens to be there."
But what is happening with the middle range of kids, those between the ages of 4 and 10, for whom the risk of homicide seems to decrease?
"There appears to be a developmental 'victimology' at work," Chew says. "Children in the middle are physically more robust, they're smarter, they can run away. Away all day at school, they are less likely than younger kids to be killed during the day on a weekday."
What Chew and McCleary learned about the time, place and people-victims and killers-involved in child homicides has led them to recommend prevention approaches that take into account developmental stages.
"For child homicide prevention, the approach needs to be different-they're not like adult homicides," Chew says. "Stricter gun control, for example, might have an effect on teen or adult homicide rates. But it won't save babies. Infants don't die of gunshot wounds-they die at their parents' hands."
What could make a difference for infants and toddlers, the researchers say, is education. They recommend prenatal and parenting classes that cover anger management as well as child development. Parents also need respite child care, advice and support from visiting nurses and suicide hotline counseling.
"We know whom to target-young parents with limited resources. And we know when to target them-before the child is born," McCleary says. "Young parents get information in prenatal classes on SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) and postpartum depression, but they aren't told about child abuse. Many of them don't know that infants and toddlers are built like tootsie-pops, with oversized heads that make them especially vulnerable to shaking or jerking. No one tells young parents that anger is normal, and there are ways to manage it safely."
Child homicide is the tip of the iceberg of child abuse, according to Chew and McCleary. "Child homicide provides a window on child abuse," McCleary says. "There's no way to know the exact circumstances of an abuse incident, but we get a detailed picture of homicide. Our findings in the study of 1,498 child homicides suggest that an age-developmental perspective can produce a more focused prevention strategy."
### Contact:
Karen Morris
(949) 824-7913
[email protected]
A complete archive of press releases is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.communications.uci.edu/~inform/
RSS